In my U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,060, I have disclosed a carrier device for planar items such as compact discs (CDs), credit cards and the like, and a blank for making the device, which afford important advantages over the prior art. The device and thus, of course, the blank, are made of paper, cardboard, paperboard, laminates of the same, and like materials, and the device is completely constructed from a single blank so that the device is very simple and inexpensive to make. Despite its simplicity and low cost, the device of the patent provides a highly effective carrying and display and/or dispensing functions wherein a planar item such as a CD, credit card or the like is shielded and protected within a cover or sheath in a carrying or storage mode, and can be readily exposed for display or dispensing purposes by pulling out or pushing out a sliding carrier member or tray which is disposed within the cover or sheath and which is adapted to carry the planar item.
In accordance with one aspect of the patent, there is provided a carrier device for a planar item, the device comprising: a cover sheath formed by first and second panels secured together so as to define a space therebetween; and a carrier member slidably received in said space for sliding movement between a storage position wherein the carrier member is nested within the sheath and a dispensing and/or display position wherein the carrier member extends outwardly of the sheath so that a planar item carried by the carrier member is displayed and can be removed from the device, the carrier member being formed by third and fourth panels secured together, the third panel comprising an opening therein for receiving a planar item to be carried, and the device further comprising stop means for limiting the sliding movement of the carrier member.
In an important implementation of the carrier device of the patent, the sheath includes first and second inner side walls defining a channel in which the carrier member slides, and the above-mentioned stop means comprises first and second projections on opposite sides of the carrier member, and first and second projections on said inner side walls which project inwardly into the channel from the inner side walls from opposite sides of the channel and which cooperate with the projections of the carrier member to limit the sliding movement of the carrier member.